Shisospicy set the pace and won the Limestone Stakes last month at Keeneland by a diminishing half-length, a performance that left one wondering if, facing many of the same 3-year-old fillies, she’d be able to hang on Saturday at Churchill Downs in the Grade 3, $224,625 Mamzelle Stakes. In fact, Shisospicy did not run back to her Limestone – she easily surpassed it, powering to a 4 1/4-length victory in the Mamzelle, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint.
In the Mamzelle, Dreamaway’s jockey was determined to take the early lead over Shisospicy, which he did, and that did not end well for Dreamaway. Shisospicy ($4.80) and jockey Jose Ortiz overpowered Dreamaway past the three-sixteenths pole and, as Dreamaway faded to fourth, Shisospicy blasted her final half-furlong in a robust 5.94 to cruise home a definitive winner.
Kilwin also improved upon her Limestone, though her rail rally got her only into a distant second. Kilwin at the finish had a couple lengths on Mechaya, who was racing for the first time since October, cut back from routes to a sprint, and absolutely flew home, rallying from 11th at the stretch call to nab the show.
Maybe, given another furlong or so, Mechaya might have come close to Shisopsicy, but at short turf sprints, Mechaya has no divisional Kentucky rivals, at this point, who can run with her. The filly, who was a fast 2-year-old on dirt, now has gone 3-3 in grass sprints and appears to be getting faster for trainer Jose D’Angelo and owner Morplay Racing. The Churchill grass course remains very quick, as it was Derby week when course records fell, but even accounting for the speed of the surface, Shisospicy’s 1:01.56 looks like a quick clocking.
Bred in Kentucky by Bill Heiligbrodt and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Shisospicy is a daughter of the Heiligbrodt's crack dirt sprinter Mitole and the Into Mischief mare Mischief Galore. Purchased as a yearling for $200,000, Shisospicy now has banked more than $400,000. And on turf, she’s proven unbeatable.
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